Coconut Scones AKA The Best Vegan Scones Ever!

So I accidentally made vegan scones, I didn’t really mean to it just sort of happened by accident. One of my New Year’s resolutions was to experiment more with alternative ingredients and a couple of weeks ago I started wondering what would happen if I substituted coconut oil for butter in my scones. Finding myself with a free hour to fill I got to work testing it out. Seeing as I had some coconut milk in the fridge from some breakfast smoothie making, I figured if I was getting rid of the butter I might as well go all the way and get rid of all of the dairy.

My expectations weren’t too high as I’ve had my fair share of ingredient substitution baking disasters. It turns out that making Yorkshire puddings with quinoa flour is a horrible, horrible idea – one to never be repeated, and my garlic crisps are legendary for all the wrong reasons. But these scones worked, first time, no adjustments necessary, and they’re really good. As a non-vegan you can trust me that this isn’t one of those “well I couldn’t make the original so I’ve settled for the next best thing” type recipes – it’s honestly on a par with my original afternoon tea scones.

I’m so excited by the results I can’t wait to start switching butter for coconut oil in all sorts of other recipes – I think pastry is next, but I’m also really interested to see how it goes in custard and caramel.

I’d say the flavour and texture of these coconut scones are very similar to the original, with a subtle hint of coconut coming from the oil and milk. If you wanted to make the coconut flavour really stand out then you could also mix in a couple of tablespoons of desiccated coconut after rubbing the dry ingredients into the coconut oil. I also toyed with the idea of drizzling over some melted chocolate (dairy-free of course) as any Bounty lover will know that coconut and chocolate are made to go together. It’s definitely something I’m going to try at some point in the future 🙂

I served these with some really yummy blackcurrant jam, and if you really wanted to go all out and have a vegan/dairy-free afternoon tea then you could whip up some coconut cream to go on top too.

Coconut Scones AKA The Best Vegan Scones Ever!

Switching to using coconut oil and coconut milk creates vegan scones that are easy to make and every bit as good as the original afternoon tea classic.

INGREDIENTS

140mlcoconut milk - the sort you find in a carton in the alternative milks fridge, not the one in a can

INSTRUCTIONS

Pre-heat the oven to 220ºC/200ºC fan.

Lightly grease a baking tray with coconut oil (I use bake-o-glide sheet so this isn’t necessary for me).

Put the self-raising flour (250g) into a large bowl. Add the coconut oil (50g) and gently rub the coconut oil into the flour until it has the consistency of breadcrumbs.

Add the caster sugar (30g), baking powder (½ tsp) and salt (¼ tsp) and mix well to ensure they are evenly distributed.

Make a well in the centre and add most of the coconut milk (keep a tablespoon or two back to help bring the mixture together at the end). With as little action as possible, mix the coconut milk into the other ingredients until it comes together in a ball of dough. If there are any stray bits of flour at the bottom of the bowl, add the coconut milk you kept back to help collect them.

Lightly flour a work surface, lay out the dough and pat it flat to a thickness of about 1½ inches (don’t use a rolling pin). Either form it into a circle and use a sharp knife to divide it into 6, or if you prefer round scones, use a cutter to cut out your scones. Place them onto the prepared baking tray.

Pop into the oven for 12-15 minutes until the are cooked (I check by tapping them on the bottom to see if they sound hollow – like you do with bread).

Once they’re cooked, remove them from the oven and pop them onto a wire rack to cool.

NOTES

If your kitchen is warm then I'd recommend chilling your coconut oil before making these scones. This will allow you to rub it into the flour without it melting while you work.

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Free From/Suitable For…

The ingredients I used to make this recipe are all free from the following allergens. However, please check any labels carefully for allergens you need to avoid as brands can vary and product recipes can change over time.